Captains of industry Farr-sighted

There will be a few prominent and rich business identities skipping work today for the start of the Farr 40 yachting world championships on Sydney Harbour.

Among the many Australians in the 200-strong field is property billionaire
Lang Walker
, who will be at the helm of his boat Kokomo.

Despite being the best of friends and drinking partners off the water, competition between the wealthy sailors during the event is usually pretty intense, with plenty of yelling and bumping of boats at the start.

A bit like the sort of behaviour used when negotiating a business deal, then.

We hear Walker – who usually finds himself at or near the front of the fleet – is keen to make up for finishing well back in the field at the Australian Farr 40 championships last week.

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In that event, Walker finished behind the joint managing director of Transfield Holdings,
Guido Belgiorno-Nettis
, who is also racing tomorrow, aboard his yacht Transfusion. Belgiorno-Nettis went close to winning the world championships in the Dominican Republic last year. He finished behind the Italian yacht Nerone, which is in Sydney to defend its title, after winning the Australian championships last week.

Then, the Italian boat just beat out Easy Tiger II, owned and skippered by the chief of Bridgeport Energy,
Chris Way
. He will be competing in his first world championship today.

Melbourne businessman
John Calvert-Jones
will also be there aboard Southern Star, and be will hoping to repeat his efforts of winning the championship in 2000.

Blackmores executive chairman
Marcus Blackmore
will also be at the start line, having chartered Hooligan especially for the occasion, while the founder of Indec Consulting,
David Gotz
e
, will be aboard his co-owned Enigma.